#1
Diabetic. The EMT said the Coke was just the thing for her and slapped me on the back. I still remember her little wave as she left. She lived. I didn't save her life or anything, but that dollar made the difference between her getting into the ambulance conscious and with dignity, vs. unconscious and sick. She said later when I visited her at the hospital that she might have had to move from independent to assisted living without it.
So that was a good dollar. Best soda I never drank.
#2
Story time: Back in Jr. High, I liked a girl and flirted with her quite a bit. One time, during a band trip, we stopped at a gas station and she bought me a pack of gum. I tried to pay her back $1 but she refused. So, I slipped the $1 in her pocket. She then slipped the dollar in my backpack and so began the back and forth with the $1 bill. We found silly ways to give it back and forth. I mailed it to her house. She stuffed it in a gum wrapper and offered me a piece. I then decided that I would ask her out on this $1. I wrote, "Will you go out with me" on it and put it in a note and gave it to her. She said yes (of course, it would be a terrible story otherwise, I suppose).
About four years later, I still had the same dollar kept away. On our anniversary, I wrote "Will you marry me" on the bottom of the dollar. We have been married for 15 years and have three awesome kids. We still have that dollar stored away.
Picture of the dollar for those curious
*update 12/17/2020 I logged in today to find this has gone a little viral. A year later! Thank you all for your kind words. A few days after this original post, we both decided to frame the $1. Here is the picture of the case.
#3
Turned out to be rare vintage Versace. Sold it for around $700.
A few years ago, a thread appeared in the AskReddit community, the author of which once asked people: "What is the most a dollar has ever gotten you?" As of today, the thread has over 42K upvotes and more than 8.6K different comments, containing lots of true stories and their lively discussions.
And you know what? I had no idea that people could be this lucky. Some people—yes, of course—but that there could be so many of them? However, even if we filter out some obviously implausible and fictitious stories (which we actually did), we still get an impressive kaleidoscope of human luck.
#4
#5
I signed up for a river tour in a foreign country. It cost me an extra dollar to ride in the first boat leaving (didn't want other boats in the way of my photos).
Met someone on that boat who later introduced me to her cousin.
Been married 8 years.
#6
Well, there are always two sides to any deal, and for some reason, we always remember that guy who paid 10K bitcoins for two pizzas 15 years ago, as a huge loser—after all, he spent almost a billion dollars on the order! On the one hand, we don't know how many more bitcoins that guy, Laszlo Hanyecz, had—and on the other, there was also a delivery guy to whom the bitcoins were paid!
It is known that it was a pizza ordered from Papa John's, but we don't really know where the crypto payment went next. That's a pity—after all, the final recipient may very well be considered one of the luckiest folks in history, too.
#7
Fast forward followup, he got back on his feet and now has a nice apartment and a really annoying, yappy dog. Teaches craft classes at a local community center.
He teaches crafts, that is. His dog doesn't teach; that'd be silly.
#8
Black Friday the local animal shelter has a special any black dog or cat for a $1. Nephew buys a dog with his dollar. So one dollar...
1. got rid of an annoyance
2. saved a dog's life
3. Gave my nephew a great pet
4. Annoyed the s**t out of my brother because he really didn't want another dog at the house.
#9
However, if you've been lucky once, it's far from certain that you'll be lucky in the future as well. For example, Edwin Castro made history a couple of years ago by winning a colossal $2 billion Powerball jackpot, simply by buying a lottery ticket at a gas station.
We already wrote that the guy bought several properties, including a luxury house in Malibu. Is it worth mentioning what happened to this house during the recent large-scale fires?
But another man, an Aussie who lost his family home in a fire shortly before the pandemic, bought a lottery ticket using his wife's favorite numbers for the combination—and won. Well, not as much as Edwin Castro—"only" a million dollars—but that was enough to build a new home for his family.
#10
It was a pretty priceless moment.
Edit: Added a missing great.
Edit 2: Whoa, platinum and silver? Thank you! You guys are so sweet! Glad I could make you smile!
Final edit: Keep your loved ones close!
#11
The knowledge was worth way more than $1
Edit: Trying to find it so I can disclose the correct title
*Title is - Automotive Principles and Service
Published by Reston Publishing Company inc.; 1980
*Okay, I give; it's fixed.
#12
So I put a dollar back in, which made people assume it was a tip jar again and then the tips came flowing again. Second wave of tips made 92 dollars. So putting a dollar back in made me 92 dollars.
I regret absolutely nothing.
As we can see, what seems like a great deal to us here and now is not always perceived in the same way years later. For example, when Ronald Wayne sold his Apple shares for $2.3K in 1974, he could well consider himself a winner. Who could've known that a couple of decades later his entire share would be valued at over $300 billion?
It all depends on the time factor and the angle from which we perceive the deal. Today, we may consider ourselves incredibly lucky, but tomorrow—no one, after all, knows what tomorrow will hold...
#13
To clarify, I live in Europe and we actually don't have dollars here (duh)
When I came back from New York I had some dollars left and had them in my wallet still for a long time, even when I forget about them from time to time.
Once I was talking to a girl I met and started talking about America, she had never been there and I remembered that I had a dollar in my wallet, I gave it to her and she was really happy
Still talking to her to this day, only a bit less than we used to but safe to say I can call her a friend of mine.
#14
#15
A couple years ago, I was back home for the holidays and decided to recreate the tradition for old times sake. To remember a simpler time in my life. At this point, I was late in college with a steady job. Thus, I could easily afford to spend a dollar.
I went to the same store, bought the same type I always did, located the same swing in the same park I always sat on, and prepared for a nostalgia overload.
And let me tell you, the cookies were terrible.
If you have the means, treat yourself better than 10 cent cookies.
Want a personal story? In 2012, I was very interested in cryptocurrencies—from a theoretical, scientific point of view. I read a ton of articles, listened to a couple dozen interviews with experts... who was going to stop me from buying at least a couple of bitcoins? On the other hand, the following year I met my future wife—so I still came out on top, right?
By the way, if you also have a couple of personal tales from your life experience, or you witnessed a similar super-lucky deal of someone else's—please, do not hesitate to share these stories in the comments below. After all, the more stories, the more interesting!
#16
That was an awesome surprise.
#17
#18
#19
Probably the most I've ever appreciated a food item, that 60p was literally all I had left in my bank account.
#20
A copy of Ticket to Ride Europe that was brand new and retails for $50.
An old war board game expansions brand new that I sold for $150.
A like new Gamecube copy of the Mega Man Legacy Collection that I sold for $65.